Page 46 - HaMizrachi #10 Yom Yerushalayim - Shavuot 5779

WHAT’S IN A WORD
Shavuot ends the period where
we finish Sefirat HaOmer –
“counting the Omer.” If we are
counting the omer, how many “omers”
were there?
Even though the counting is repeated
during the 49 days between Pesach
and Shavuot, there was only one omer.
The omer was a grain sacrifice brought
the day after Pesach:
“Speak to the Children of Israel and
say to them: When you enter the Land
that I am giving to you and you reap
its harvest, you shall bring the first
omer of your harvest to the priest.
He shall elevate the omer before G-d
for acceptance in your behalf; the
priest shall elevate it on the day after translated into a word with the sense
the Sabbath… And from the day on
which you bring the omer of elevation
offering, the day after the Sabbath, you (on Deuteronomy 24:9). In the Tanach
shall count seven weeks. They must
be complete: you must count until the
day after the seventh week – 50 days;
then you shall bring an offering of new
grain to G-d.” (Leviticus 23:10-16)
The omer was brought only once,
but from the day it was offered, we
are commanded to count 49 days in
order to calculate when the holiday of
Shavuot should be.
So actually, Sefirat HaOmer does not
mean “counting the omer” but rather
“counting from the omer.”
Now we need to clarify: what exactly is
an omer?
In the passage quoted above, the
precise meaning is not clear. If we
look at other occurrences of the word
in the Tanach, we find two different
46 |
OMER ‫ֹע ֶמר‬
meanings. In Deuteronomy 24:19,
where we are commanded to leave
overlooked stalks of grain for the poor, interesting parallel between the two
omer means a sheaf. But in the story of
the manna (Exodus 16:16-36), it refers
to a measure of volume, one-tenth of
an ephah.
Which type of omer is the
commandment in Leviticus referring
to?
Many translations, from the ancient
Greek Septuagint to the modern
English JPS, say it means “sheaf.” The
Greek word for sheaf was dragma,
which literally means “handful.” It
refers to the number of stalks you
could grab in your hand. Omer is
of “handful” in several languages,
including in Arabic by Saadia Gaon
itself there is a connection between
omer and hand:
“It will never fill a reaper’s hand, nor in Deuteronomy? Why not just say
a yield an armful for the gatherer of
sheaves (me’amer).” (Psalms 129:7)
On the other hand, halachic tradition,
as described in the 10th chapter of
Massechet Menachot, says that the
verses in Leviticus refer to a volume
of flour. This conclusion derives from
an identification of the grain offering
mentioned earlier (Leviticus 2:14)
with the omer offering appearing in
Chapter 23.
Evidence for this approach is brought
by the Academy of the Hebrew
Language in their pamphlet about
the three festivals. They point out
a comparison between the omer
offering, and the Shavuot offering 50
David Curwin
days later. If omer is understood here
as a measure of volume, we see an
offerings:
Grain brought Omer Shavuot
Offering Offering
Barley Wheat
Form brought Flour Bread
Amount 1 tenth of 2 tenths of
an ephah an effah
Each aspect of the Shavuot offering
is an upgrade from the omer offering.
So if we view bringing the omer as
the beginning of a process, and the
Shavuot offering as the culmination, it
makes sense that the omer would be a
measure of flour, not a sheaf.
So why does the Torah use the
ambiguous word omer? Why not
use aluma, also meaning “sheaf”
issaron – or a tenth of an ephah –
when describing the manna? And
why not use a word in Leviticus whose
definition is clear?
Perhaps this special word omer is
coming to teach us a lesson. Just as
G-d helped his hungry people in the
desert by giving them an omer of
manna, we need to emulate Him and
leave the omer of grain for the poor in
our fields. And when is this message
most important? When we begin the
harvest season, as we are likely to feel
like the grain belongs to us. At this
time, we bring an omer offering to
remind of us of the kindness G-d gave
us and that we must give others.
David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat,
and the author of the Balashon blog
balashon.com • balashon1@gmail.com